Melvins’ Buzz Osbourne Shares Privilege of Using Signature EGC Guitars
Phoenix New Times music blog 'Up On the Sun' recently caught up with Melvins guitarist Buzz Osbourne (a.k.a. King Buzzo) while the band was kicking off their 30th Anniversary Tour in the Arizona city. Osbourne discusses many aspects about his band's storied career, his five favorite Melvins albums, and his incredibly unique aluminum and acrylic guitars made by Electrical Guitar Company.
Last fall, the band completed their "51 Dates in 51 States" tour, and they recently released a fantastic covers recorded entitled, 'Everybody Loves Sausages,' in which they cover songs from the likes of Bowie, Roxy Music, Throbbing Gristle and Venom. For that album and a few before that, Osbourne used custom aluminum and acrylic guitars made by Electrical Guitar Company out of Pensacola, Fla.
Osbourne is known for playing Gibson Les Paul Customs, but he's since retired his in favor of his EGC Guitars, saying, "They are unbelievable. I still love Les Pauls, but haven't played them live in a while, although I still use them in the studio occasionally." Osbourne's main guitar is fashioned with a thin billet aluminum neck and a hollow aluminum body, and the joining of the two gives the sustain of a neck-through design with the resonance of a traditional hollow body guitar. Even the fretboard is aluminum, and Osbourne's polished models have a very reflective and eye-catching look underneath stage lights.
Company founder Kevin Burkett is a firm believer in the rich and resonant qualities of aluminum, as well as the crisp, metallic twang that it applies to notes and chords. The aluminum also is resistant to many issues that plague traditional wooden guitars, such as neck warping as a result of extreme weather changes. Osbourne is very excited to have a signature model, declaring, "I will never find another guy who builds stuff like this, so I feel privileged to use them at all."
The aluminum-bodied King Buzzo Standard model comes in a variety of finishes such as polished aluminum, powder-coated aluminum or anodized aluminum. Osbourne himself has also been touring with a single humbucker-equipped gold-anodized model, which looks particularly striking. If aluminum isn't really your thing, EGC can also fashion them with clear acrylic bodies, which Osbourne also uses occasionally. Osbourne's signature model comes with your choice of Gibson 498 model pickups, or EGC's custom-wound Alnico V models.
Catch Osbourne playing his EGC signature guitars on the Melvins 30th Anniversary Tour, which will be hitting a town near you throughout July and August.